Diana Blok

By webber27-08-2016

One Week About Photography by Ahmet Polat

Diana Blok: “My father was of Jewish-Dutch descent and spoke many different languages. Through a combination of circumstances he became acquainted with the Turkish Ambassador in the Netherlands, who hired my father as his ‘right-hand man’. When the Second World War broke out, the Turkish Ambassador was transferred to Buenos Aires. He invited my father to come along.”

Diana’s father worked for 10 years at the Turkish family right in front of the Dutch Embassy in Buenos Aires. He then started working for this Embassy and was trained as a diplomat. He met his wife and was employed in various South American countries. That’s where Diana grew up; she traveled from country to country and from story to story.

Consciously or unconsciously, Diana Blok incorporates these personal anecdotes in her work, for example in ‘Time tells’. Her love for South America also comes back in her latest work ‘Adventures in cross-casting’, for which she asks actors to sincerely and honestly represent both a contemporary and a historical figure or role from the world of drama. Her energy, interest and commitment always feature strongly in her work. Following her latest work she is now working on ‘Gender Monologues’, an interactive media installation in which photography merges into film.